Mayor Ed Lee tries to zero out carbon emissions with Volt

Mayor Ed Lee used the Fourth of July holiday to declare his independence from foreign oil.

Lee took his first ride Monday in the new official mayor-mobile: a silver plug-in hybrid electric Chevrolet Volt.

courtesy of Mayor’s Office

You can tell it’s the mayor’s ride from the sweet tint job in back.

He had already been riding in a 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid, but the Volt can run for about 40 miles on electric power alone before needing a charge or having the gas-powered generator kick in. Lee plans to drive no more than that amount a day, his administration said (looks like no trips to Montana), and charge the car from the city’s carbon-free hydropower generated at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

Total fossil fuel used under that scenario: zero.

“This is about the most patriotic thing I can think of doing,” the mayor said. “I want to make sure I am not only pushing policies forward to keep our momentum going, but I should always be doing what I can as an individual to fight climate change. We all should.”

In a city that prides itself on being the greenest in North America, Lee is particularly keen on electric vehicles, having overseen conversion efforts at the city fleet as city administrator before being appointed interim mayor in January.

He had already traded in former Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Chevy Tahoe hybrid for the more fuel-efficient Ford Fusion hybrid. But it wasn’t a plug-in and used braking and a combustion engine to recharge the electric battery.

If the mayor only uses electric power with the Volt, he would save about 9.5 barrels of oil and 5.2 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, compared to driving his 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid the same distance, said Bob Hayden, manager of transportation programs at the city’s Department of the Environment.

Of course, one of the knocks against hybrid and electric vehicles is the cost. After all, city officials were holed up until 2 a.m. last week trying to hammer out a balanced budget without severely harming city services.

The price tag on the mayor’s new Volt was $39,000 before taxes, Hayden said. Almost half — $18,000 — came from a federal grant. The city also deactivated an old car from its fleet to make way for the Volt, so the number of city cars remains the same.

The mayor plans to add a charging station to a special parking space at City Hall to power the car and also keep on hand another green-powered vehicle for official use: a bicycle.